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Bond set for fake Forsyth County nurse who cared for Bobbi Kristina
taiwo sobamowo
Sobamowo

CUMMING — A Buford woman accused of impersonating a nurse at a north Forsyth health care facility supposedly did the same while caring for the late Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, at a hospice in Duluth and for a job in Washington, D.C., more than two years ago.

Taiwo Bolatito Sobamowo, 32, was arrested Sunday in Raleigh, N.C., on a warrant issued by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, according to the Raleigh/Wake City-County Bureau of Identification.

She reportedly had a second possible residence in Raleigh and was found at the house after a rental car with a Georgia tag was recorded rented under “one of her alias names.”

According to Epifanio Rodriguez, a spokesman for the local sheriff’s office, Sobamowo did not have a nursing license but supposedly practiced as a registered professional nurse at Gracemont Senior Living off Jot Em Down Road near Ga. 400.

The agency also issued warrants for her on felony charges of financial identity fraud and forgery, Rodriguez said.

“Sobamowo had provided fraudulent credentials under a different name to gain employment,” Rodriguez said. “The investigation showed that Sobamowo is not licensed in the state of Georgia or elsewhere in the United States.”

According to a multi-jurisdictional investigation, she supposedly used the licensing information of a metro Atlanta medical professional who was not aware her identity had been stolen prior to the Forsyth County investigation.

The woman reportedly confirmed to law enforcement that she does not know Sobamowo or allow her license information to be used by anyone.

Sobamowo was held at the Wake County Detention Facility in Raleigh before being transferred Wednesday to the Forsyth County Jail.

She appeared in Forsyth County Magistrate Court on Thursday by video conference before Judge Walker Bramblett.

According to jail officials, the judge set a total bond of $29,920, of which $27,500 must be cash.

Bramblett also said Gwinnett County has issued a hold order for the suspect. She could also face charges of identity fraud and forgery in Roswell, which is where her former employer is based.

Sobamowo is also the subject of a separate probe for her employment at Peachtree Christian Hospice off Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth.

The center is where 22-year-old Bobbi Kristina Brown resided at the time of her death in July. She was the daughter of Houston and fellow singer Bobby Brown.

In late January, Bobbi Kristina Brown was found unresponsive in a bathtub and was kept in a medically induced coma until her death. She had been named as the sole beneficiary of her mother’s estate after Houston’s death in 2012.

According to the Associated Press, Mariam “Lola” Savage, a friend of Sobamowo, said she visited her in early September and was told by her friend that she had been caring for Bobbi Kristina.

“Duluth police began investigating this matter on Oct. 27 after being notified by Forsyth County authorities of their investigative findings,” said Don Woodruff, a spokesman for the Duluth Police Department.

“Duluth obtained a warrant for practicing as a registered professional nurse without a license. Additional charges may be forthcoming.”

Woodruff said Duluth investigators are “looking at her involvement” at the hospice.

A police report shows no indication that Brown’s care was affected by Sobamowo.

Paula Sanders, executive director of the Georgia Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, which contracts nurses to the centers involved in Sobamowo’s case, said registered nurses in hospice facilities will bathe, change and feed a patient or make sure those tasks happen.

Responsibilities also include providing medication, providing updates and making conversation with patients and their family members to ensure their comfort.

Sobamowo was hired by Homestead Hospice in September 2014 and fired on Aug. 5 when she failed to provide proof of a license, according to the Georgia Board of Nursing.

“She doesn’t have any credentials to work there,” Woodruff said. “She’s not a nurse, so anything she may have done there may be criminal activity.”

He said her employment records indicated she attended a medical college in Washington, D.C.

“To date,” he said, “we have been unable to confirm her attendance at this school.”

A cease-and-desist order issued by the DC Department of Health, according to the AP, says an August 2013 background check showed Sobamowo had been convicted of check forgery and other offenses in Minnesota.

She also apparently faced charges of theft in Maryland and a charge of passing a bad check in Missouri.

 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.